NYY @ TEX 5.25.09

mmmm. Delicious.

Phil Hughes turns in the best start of his career, with 3 hits, 8 shutout innings. MMF. Let me eat that up with a freaking spoon. His fourth strikeout had me drooling. Check swing on a curveball in for a ball, followed by curve that falls in for a called third strike right down the middle. OH LOVE ME.

I kind of understand why Girardi decided to pull Hughed before the ninth, what with the DREADED 100+ PITCH COUNT, but if I were Joe I woulda given Phil the opportunity for a complete game shutout. But, most important thing is the win. I guess. But then comes Alfredo Aceves, OUR LONG RELIEVER, our ONLY GUY THAT CAN SAVE THE BULLPEN IN THE CASE OF A STARTER BEING PULLED EARLY, to give up a home run. He better have just needed the work. Hopefully Girardi isn't that stupid.

So, here's what we know about Phil Hughes so far. He sucks at home, and destroys aggressive swinging teams. Hopefully his confidence is building, and he can shut down teams like the Red Sox. That's what counts in the AL East.

And how about Alex Fraudriguez and his 5-5? Is he back to MVP form? Is he doing it cleanly?

Rangers won't be in first place for long. They just aren't solid enough.

PHI @ NYY 05.24.09

Well that sucked.

Melky AGAIN with the major clutch hit. But this time it wasn't enough. It still shows that the Yankees are going to fight until the last out though, which is good. But when there were two men on with no outs and Tex hit into that double play... that's pretty bad. That's REALLY bad.

And speaking of Tex, BROKEN BAT HOME RUN TO LEFT CENTER? That's pretty awesome. I've never seen that before and I don't think I'll ever see it again.

I hate Cole Hamels. Son of a bitch.

Sabathia was awesome again. 8 IP with 3 ER. That's fantastic. This is the starting pitching the Yankees have needed for 5+ years.

And it looks like Brian Bruney is still aching in his right elbow. That isn't good. The Yankee bullpen is easily their weakspot. With a solid bullpen, they can be near unstoppable. Veras did well today to get through the 10th. That was an important and big inning, and he got it done, and gave the Yankees another chance to win it. They couldn't capitalize of course, but this demonstrates just how important having a solid bullpen is.

Am I the only one who's noticed that Mo is throwing in the low 90's? If I recall correctly, he used to throw 95. As long ago as last season. But as long as he gets the job done I suppose that doesn't matter.

Well its off to visit the first place Texas Rangers. I expect a lot of home runs, somewhere around 83. In the first game. I like the Yankees pitching matchups for this series, even Hughes. He's proven he belongs in the big leagues in my eyes, and I can't wait for him to hit his prime and start mowing down the opposition with 98475 hitless innings.

PHI @ NYY 05.23.09

Well holy crap. Melky does it again. Third time this season. MELKY CABRERA. THREE WALK OFFS. LIGHT HITTING MELKY CABRERA.

And how about A-Rod? Finally getting some majorly clutch home runs? That's pretty huge, especially after this off season with the surgery and everything.

A.J. needs to get rolling. The Yankees can't afford to keep having come from behind victories. They need solid victories, consistently, if they want to win the AL East. But the fight this team has is something we haven't seen in them since 2001. And right now they look pretty damn good fighting till the end.

And that Mayberry Sr. gaffe on FOX was hilarious.

The Alex Rodriguez Smiley

I will say it right here right now. I hated Alex Rodriguez every year except 2007.  I hated that he couldn't drive runs in, and I hated that he is the worst playoff player in the history of any sport ever. In 2007 he finally won over my and New York's hearts with his ridiculously awesome MVP performance.

Me and my friend, whenever he'd homer, would talk to each other online and discuss how A-Rod homered seventeen times in the same inning, and then follow it up with the A-Rod smiley face.

You see, in post game interviews, Alex has a habit of making the same face between each and every question:

So, how can we NOT make fun of this?

Well, we did.

Let's compare. The original smiley:

:)

The A-Rod smiley

:I

With affection we'd scream, "AROD!!! :I" 

Then Selina Roberts ruined it all. And we are all back to hating him. And he is a cheater and deserves all the hell he gets for cheating, and just being an overall fail of a human being. And until he can prove to me that he is clean, and that he is changed, I will hate him. And he will always be A-Rod*

:I *

PHI @ NYY 05.22.09

Today's loss sucked. But, 10 out of the last 12 for wins is pretty damn good. But today's loss sucked.

A.J. needs to get his act together. He is being paid to be a number 2 guy, not a number 5 guy. A.J. as the Yankees number 5 guy is still pretty good though, I must say. But 5 runs over 6 innings is unacceptable for the money he's making. But let's not just blame Burnett for this one. With a loss there's a win, and the Phillies really played well, and Myers dominated the Yanks. So, with this the question becomes, does good starting pitching just shut down the Yankees completely? Before Myers, the last loss was to Halladay. The Yankees have been pretty dominant in the W column, but let's not forget they had three walk off wins, and almost all of the 9 games were come from behind victories of some sort. They seem to explode with offense from the 7th inning on, usually when a starter is pulled. Are the Yankees the real deal? Or did they just run into some match-ups they could handle?

It was good to see Wang back, even if he did give up those two huge dingers. When..or, "if" might be more appropriate at this point...he gets back to being himself, can really help the team. A reinvention might be in order if he can't get his sinker working.

Also, apparently Brian Bruney wasn't called in to pitch last night because he was complaining of elbow pain. But I still don't trust Veras in a close situation.

But, once again I must call Girardi out on yet another issue. Joe has a nasty habit of taking people who are heating up out of the lineup, and lately its been bothering me that Kevin Cash and Francisco Cervelli are splitting time. It may be early, but for the love of obviously better than Kevin Cash, why is Kevin Cash anything but a backup catcher? Cervelli has proved he has what it takes defensively, and for some reason offensively, whereas Kevin Cash aspires to have the ability of a catcher who doesn't MAKE ME WANT TO CRY. Leave Cash out, and put the future starting catcher in. Hopefully Cervelli keeps on keeping on, and we can trade Jose Molina, who I love don't get me wrong, but just becomes a hole in the Yankee offense.

So, luckily for the Yankees, the Blue Jays and the Red Sox lost tonight as well, so no ground lost. Then again, no ground gained either.

BAL @ NYY - 05.21.09

Nine in a row.

9 in a row.

Nein in a roe.

No matter how I write it it makes me drool.

This is the team I expected since before Spring Training. Everything is clicking right now. Tex is batting nicely, not to mention his gold glove defense, saving runs, something we haven't had from a first baseman in years. CC is on track. AJ's last few starts have been delicious. Even Hughes has been filling in satisfyingly for Wang, and when Wang is back, if he's back to being Wang, hoo boy. HOO BOY. Swish is batting .250 with lots of homers. Jeter is getting the hits when we need them most (which makes batting .275 okay!!!). Cano is a .300 hitter. A-Roid is roiding his way to the record books. Mo is back to Mo. Everything is clicking just the way it should.

How about Melky? Is this a breakout two months, a breakout year, or just a fluke of a season? Is he really just a career 260 hitter, and we are being teased? I love his glove, and I love the way he's swinging the bat.

So let's talk about tonight's game.

Joba Chamberlain vs. Adam Eaton. Usually the Yankees make the crappiest of pitchers look brilliant. Well, usually meaning a month ago. Not this team. They're done screwing around.

Joba, two outs and four batters in was out after a line drive to his right knee. Yankee Universe held their breath until later in the game when they found out it was just a bruise.

Adam Eaton is terrible, and the Orioles are terrible. And its a shame, because they don't have to be. They have great hitters. But their starting pitchers are just awful. They are like the 2005 Yankees, only they have guys in the front office who are just the worst in the business. Infact, Sports Illustrated recently called Orioles owner Peter Angelos the worst in baseball.

Three doubles to lead off game makes any baseball fan feel good. And that's what Jeter, Cano, and Texeira did. Made me feel goooood. Then of course The Sultan of Suck in the Clutch, Alex Rodriguez grounds out to second, ruining what I'm convinced would have been nine consecutive doubles.

Aceves is awesome. He was awesome last year and he's awesome now. He's my favorite relief pitcher, besides Mo, and the Yankees are lucky to have him. He has the stuff of an ace, and the testicular fortitude of seventeen men who already have the testicular fortitude of seventeen men. ACEves.

I forgave Girardi for relieving Aceves for Jonathan Albaladealdlealldaljo, reluctantly deciding that ACEves had probably had enough between the last couple of days.

But then, with the Yankees leading 7-4, Joe did something that I am convinced was just to make me vomit. To make everyone in the stands vomit. He must have had a bet with Hank on how many people he could make vomit. He put in Jose "walks the first guy and then gives up a homer" Veras.

And as sure as a minute is sixty seconds, Veras gave up a w--oh wait. OH GOD. HE DIDN'T. Two outs to setup Mo in the 9th.

It worked. This time. But I want Bruney in there in save situations. That's his damn job, isn't it? Setup man?

I'm chalking this one up to luck until I see some more evidence that Veras deserves to be a major leaguer.

Up next, the defending world champion Phillies, AJ vs. Myers. Should be good.

It begins.

First post. HOW VERY EXCITING.

Let me lay it all out here for you. I am a die hard Yankees fan -- but I didn't start watching baseball until I was sixteen. My father is a Yankees fan, and in 2003, after always having a strange attraction to the game that I knew nothing about, I sat down with him to watch the ALCS with the Red Sox and Yankees. Well, Yankees fans know how that ended. Aaron Boone's pennant clinching home run in the 11th sealed my fate as an avid Yankees fan, as well as a fan of baseball as a whole. How the Hell wasn't I addicted since I was 7 is a question I've pondered ever since.

So, since I have only been paying close attention since October of 2003, I would say that I have a lot to learn. But I am no newbie to baseball either.

Since the Boonebino's legendary jack, I have become growingly obsessed with baseball, and not just Yankees baseball, ever since. Fantasy teams, scouting reports, blogs, articles, video games, books, anything I could get my hands on that was related to the game I grew to love. And now this.

My friends don't like baseball as much as me, I figured I'd share my love with dwellers of the internet, hereby called DOTIs because why the hell not.

So, DOTIs, it begins.